When I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin, I spent stretches of time where I'd have to stay in bed because of a broken elbow, arm or leg (damned ice!!). And while my friends would come and visit me, and my wonderful parents would doat on me, the thing that made me feel better than any medication was pulling out my baseball cards, my Brewers yearbooks, or the books I'd collected about the Milwaukee Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Boston Red Sox, or baseball history in general. I'd lose myself in baseball, reading about my heroes, and in doing so, I'd forget how I felt. My focus was elsewhere. In my mind, I was standing in the batters box, facing down Bob Feller.
I had the 1949 Dell
Major League Baseball Facts Figures and Official Rules book, with Lou Boudreau on the front, and the MVP of the All-American Girls Baseball League, Sophie Kurys, on the back cover.
Sophie Kurys, the "Flint Flash"
I had
Baseball Stars of 1962, with Roger Maris on the front, the 1965 version with Mickey Mantle gracing the front cover. I read about Dean Chance, Ken Boyer, Tony Olivia, and a slew of up-and-comers. Those books were my escape. The library was my haven; I had a stack of books checked out, and I constantly pestered the librarians to get more books about the Boys of Summer.
I may sometimes go a week, or more, not checking the forum, depending on how I'm feeling. But when I do load up the laptop, and see a thread like the one on Walter Johnson, I'm reminded once again of just how much I love our hobby. And, I feel like that kid again, losing myself in the wonderful history of the game. You share your collections because of a common passion we all have, and it makes this little corner of the internet a very special place, for me. Net54 has become my escape; the incredible eye candy, and the stimulating conversations that accompany them, mean more to me than you all can know. I'm a sentimental guy, at heart, but I think of all of you as being an extended family, and I thank you all for the wonderful hours spent here so far.